2. How Congress Is Like My Company Some people like to say that private companies function better than government, but this latest display only points out how any large organization of humans will find ways to suck. Let’s review:
3. 1. A lot of bold talk by leaders creates a crisis and a deadline that otherwise didn’t exist. How many times has your boss created an artificial deadline to impress someone?
4. 2. Macho posturing takes precedence over trying to get something done. How many times does your boss interrupt your work or make you postpone something so you can go to a meeting where he brags about how “things will be different”?
5. 3. Only in the last hours do people finally start to focus. While the project remains weeks away, there is no urgency from the boss to approve anything, even though the timeline says he’s already days behind and holding things up.
6. 4. Some leaders get worried it won’t be finished on time, so they begin efforts to shift the blame on others EVEN THOUGH IT HASN’T YET FAILED. Managing blame takes precedence over managing the project.
7. 5. As it is nearly done, people shift their focus towards efforts to take the credit, even though it is not yet done and could still fail. If another manager will get the credit, why bother finishing?
8. 6. Finally it’s done and everyone hates it, but it gets pushed out anyway because not to would be admitting failure. It’s so big it requires compromise and committees, so now it has the worst of everything.
9. 7. Everyone promises to learn their lesson but nobody does. The day after the project ships, everyone meets to discuss what went wrong and how to avoid it.
10. 8. People continue to plot their next move to gin up a new crisis to make them look good and their rivals look bad, because the company’s interests don’t matter as much as their own.
11. 9. Boehner used PowerPoint to get his caucus to accept his plan.
12. Adapted from a post at MeetingBoy.com. Read the rest . Follow him at MeetingBoy.com This has been a MeetingBoy presentation.
